Mains'l Haul - Euterpe/Star of India 150th Commemorative Issue

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Vol. 49: 1 & 2Winter/Spring 2013108 pages

Euterpe/Star of India is the centerpiece of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and perhaps the greatest, if not the only, representation of a windjammer from the great Age of Sail that is still able to put to sea and sail under her own power.

Euterpe, as she was first named, was built in 1863 and launched just five days before President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. She sailed as a merchant ship, an emigrant ship, with the Alaska Packers’ fleet to become Star of India, and finally she made way to her homeport of San Diego, as an aging relic cast off from a disappearing age.

The Star of India’s history might have ended there, as a derelict along Embarcadero. But through the efforts of so many dedicated individuals, she was brought back to life again. 2013 marks the Star’s 150th year afloat, more than that, it marks 150 years of a history that takes the reader through the advent of global commerce via the sailing ship, the heroic migrations of peoples, the technological growth needed to accomplish both, and the eventual transition from sail power to steam engine, with the possibility that the seafaring memory may rest in a watery grave, if not for those who shared the passion and the fortitude to preserve and continue to sail this resilient Iron Lady of the Sea.